Metro Lex News

Men's Basketball first Conference Win over Bluffton 67-54

It's Winter Break here on the campus of Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky where our Pioneers played the first game of two this weekend against the Bluffton Beavers. Transy takes on their third conference opponent trying to break the two game conference losing streak, which they did in their 67-54 Win.  

The first half of this game Bluffton shot well from 3, which has been a problem for the Pioneers this year losing their past two games to opponents who shot well from deep. This competitive first half had Bluffton ahead for the first 15 minutes of the game, but consistent shot making and team defense allowed our Pioneers to fight back. A constant trend we see this year is the dedication to inside scoring and getting touches in the paint which allows our offense to spread out and create room for shooters. Closing out the first half Sophomore guard, Colby Napier was our leading scorer with 11 having a fantastic last second shot to put Transy up 35-27 at halftime. 

The second half of this game was a wakeup call for the Pioneers coming out guns blazing while playing stifling defense. The Pioneers stretched out to a 21 point lead halfway through the second half and after that cruised the rest of the way. Our bench outscored theirs with 20 points this game, as Coach Lane makes the appropriate substitutions to keep it competitive but at the same time give him some new looks. At the end Transy built up a large enough lead to run out the clock earning their first conference game win! Head Coach Brian Lane had this to say after the game:

"Today we had a much better team effort after spending the week in Finals. The coaching staff challenged each player to lift their effort and play with a higher running motor and they did that. We had a balanced scoring attack and had 15 assists. Now we have to get ready with a quick turnaround for tomorrow's Don Lane Classic game against Blackburn." 

•    Colby Napier 13 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals.

•    Simon Smith 13 points, 1 steal, 1 block. 

•    Hunter Penn 8 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists  

The Transylvania Men's Basketball team is not done this weekend as the Don Lane Classic has our Pioneers playing Blackburn tomorrow December 11th @1pm in the Beck Center. Keeping the men focused and ready to compete at a high level is no easy task after finals but the coaching staff has challenged each player to rise to the occasion and sustain high level play from here on out.  

Original source can be found here.